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So much good information in here that I decided to join so I could post my own question.

Read quite a bit, but wasn't going to read through all 31 pages to see if this exact scenario has occurred with anyone else.

Fiance went to power up the system this morning and the audio coming out of my Samsung 3272 wasn't working. Did some troubleshooting to determine that it was definitely the box and no other components.

Went into the dianostics menu to do a hard factory reset, as expected from reading it defaulted the box back to HDMI sound output versus AC3. I went to my Settings menu to re-enable and upon doing so I had no sound. Switched it back to HDMI and the sound came back.

So it seems like my culprit is the the AC3 decoding.

Any thoughts on what can cause this? I've tried different inputs on the receiver and I get the same results, though I don't think it's the reciever itself as I have no issues with my BluRay decoding.

So much good information in here that I decided to join so I could post my own question.

Read quite a bit, but wasn't going to read through all 31 pages to see if this exact scenario has occurred with anyone else.

Fiance went to power up the system this morning and the audio coming out of my Samsung 3272 wasn't working. Did some troubleshooting to determine that it was definitely the box and no other components.

Went into the dianostics menu to do a hard factory reset, as expected from reading it defaulted the box back to HDMI sound output versus AC3. I went to my Settings menu to re-enable and upon doing so I had no sound. Switched it back to HDMI and the sound came back.

So it seems like my culprit is the the AC3 decoding.

Any thoughts on what can cause this? I've tried different inputs on the receiver and I get the same results, though I don't think it's the reciever itself as I have no issues with my BluRay decoding.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

So I called Bright House (Tampa) while trying to figure this out and I don't know if the Phone Tech was just giving me the runaround or not. She said that there does appear to be an issue with the Signal coming into the house and that I should keep the Service Call I have scheduled for tomorrow.

Is it possible that an issue like this isn't equipment failure at all? Can the signal coming into the house effect the 5.1 Audio yet not effect any other part of my cable service?

Cable guy came the other day and he told me to just tune to channel 711 its a status channel, shows all the menus

Some areas use channel numbers and some areas they do not work. My area has never had a working CH # to go to for diagnostics. I need to check that out here now since: An update (no rev change) last week sped up my box to mostly normal speed, but I lost the ODN diagnostics (down arrow), only have firmware diagnostics (up arrow) which does have the ODN version in a round about way.

I just upgraded to the 3270 from Time Warner, and I'm having a problem that I can't seem to find anyone else online having: the black level is light grey. The box is hooked up with HDMI to a Panasonic GT30 (not sure if it's HDMI 1.4 or not) and anything I watch on it has a light grey black level. Anyone have any ideas?

I just upgraded to the 3270 from Time Warner, and I'm having a problem that I can't seem to find anyone else online having: the black level is light grey. The box is hooked up with HDMI to a Panasonic GT30 (not sure if it's HDMI 1.4 or not) and anything I watch on it has a light grey black level. Anyone have any ideas?

Do some investigation. Try another HDMI port on the TV, try another HDMI cable, try component input, try DVD on same HDMI port, etc. Narrow the item at fault. It may be a bad box.

I just upgraded to the 3270 from Time Warner, and I'm having a problem that I can't seem to find anyone else online having: the black level is light grey. The box is hooked up with HDMI to a Panasonic GT30 (not sure if it's HDMI 1.4 or not) and anything I watch on it has a light grey black level. Anyone have any ideas?

Quote:

Originally Posted by danki6x

Do some investigation. Try another HDMI port on the TV, try another HDMI cable, try component input, try DVD on same HDMI port, etc. Narrow the item at fault. It may be a bad box.

/Dan

Before going crazy swapping cables or devices, check that the HDMI Black Level setting on the TV is set correctly. If the setting is greyed-out/unavailable, then the box is outputting YCbCr (which does not require this setting) and the problem may in fact be a bad box.

However, if the setting is available, the box is likely outputting RGB with limited range TV grayscale while the TV is set for full range PC grayscale (which results in the loss of deep blacks). Just change the setting and see if it corrects things. I'd bet that it's at least 85% probable that this is the problem.

I just got a new box today, my old SA8300 died and it's a Samsung 3090 box. I confirmed via diagnostics that it's the 320GB model so that is a plus.

I was curious if anyone in NYC on TWC got an external drive working via esata? I bought one that worked with my old 8300 (not very well) but it did boost the storage. Short of doing a full factory reset, does it work?

Also, if you do a full factory reset doesn't Time Warner just update your firmware when you connect to their network anyway and undo everything?

I have TWC in the Milwaukee, WI market. I have a Samsung 3090 with only a 160GB internal drive. I've been wanting to add an external drive for some time now. I contacted TWC support and after verifying my identity, they were able to tell me this information:

"Thank you for writing Time Warner Cable Email Support where we appreciate you being our customer.
I am happy to assist you with your inquiry on using an External Hard Drive with your cable service.
We apologize for any inconvenience to you. The HD DVR you have does not support the use of an External Hard Drive.
eSata devices are only supported on set-top cable boxes running MDN (Mystro Digital Navigator). Your DVR has ODN (Optical Distribution Network)."

I'm wondering about this because when I reboot my set, I get the Mystro splash screen. Does anyone know where I can look in my box's diagnostic/setup screens to verify which one I have. Secondly, does anyone know how I could manually update my box to ODN?

I have TWC in the Milwaukee, WI market. I have a Samsung 3090 with only a 160GB internal drive. I've been wanting to add an external drive for some time now. I contacted TWC support and after verifying my identity, they were able to tell me this information:

"Thank you for writing Time Warner Cable Email Support where we appreciate you being our customer.
I am happy to assist you with your inquiry on using an External Hard Drive with your cable service.
We apologize for any inconvenience to you. The HD DVR you have does not support the use of an External Hard Drive.
eSata devices are only supported on set-top cable boxes running MDN (Mystro Digital Navigator). Your DVR has ODN (Optical Distribution Network)."

I'm wondering about this because when I reboot my set, I get the Mystro splash screen. Does anyone know where I can look in my box's diagnostic/setup screens to verify which one I have. Secondly, does anyone know how I could manually update my box to ODN?

What Knuckleheads!

ODN in this context does NOT stand for Optical Distribution Network. It is a shortened version of MODN, or Mystro OCAP Digital Navigator... which is why we still see the Mystro name pop up on ODN boxes. (BTW... OCAP stands for Open Cable Application Platform)

Alas, they're response WAS correct in that external drives do not consistently work with ODN boxes.

I've had an issue with passing audio through HDMI. My 3270 is connected to my TV via HDMI, which I then try to pass to my speaker bar as PCM audio over the TosLINK cable. However, seemingly at random it will completely cut out. If I reboot the box, it will go back to working. Any ideas how I can fix this?

It seems to have started yesterday, at random times, the channel will go dark with no sound, the only way to get the video and audio back is to change to another channel, then change back and then the channel is working like normal, but this has been happening too many times in the last 2 days.

It seems to have started yesterday, at random times, the channel will go dark with no sound, the only way to get the video and audio back is to change to another channel, then change back and then the channel is working like normal, but this has been happening too many times in the last 2 days.

Is there a way to determine what is causing this to happen?

Make sure you pull the plug, rest half a minute, and replug in to cold reboot first. This may fix it and will save you time if it does. If it does not, you probably need another box. /Dan

I just replaced a SA 8200 with the Samsung SMT-H3272 from Brighthouse. I can't get it to recognize my ESATA External Hard Drive. Suggestions? Are any of the new 1 TB drives known to work with the Samsung?

I just replaced a SA 8200 with the Samsung SMT-H3272 from Brighthouse. I can't get it to recognize my ESATA External Hard Drive. Suggestions? Are any of the new 1 TB drives known to work with the Samsung?

None of the newer boxes (SA/Cisco 8xxx-HDC models or any Samsung) that run the ODN version of Navigator work consistently and reliably with external drives. At least you've got 500GB internally on the 3272.

Only the legacy SA/Cisco boxes produced prior to ~2006, which run the MDN version of Navigator, have been working reliably with external drives.

well i will tell u
once you put the box in test mode and it reboots the box is NOW A QAM TURNER and will pick up all the channels that u pay for on your package
this can be done with the remote and scanning for all the channels
after the box reboots you will be left with 1-1 on the front of the display if you are one with HDMI or out of 420P click VIDEO SOURCE on the remote it will change the video back to normal
next click MENU on the remote and channel scan wait about 1 hour for it to scan all channels
once done you will have a FREE TO AIR CABLE BOX.

if you have a MCARD located in the back of the unit = the mcard is what holds your package info so if the MCARD is not in the box during the time of the SCAN you will not pick up any ENCRYPTED channels
hope that tells u what factory test mode is

in this mode you can not do anything but watch the channels
no recording no nothing

I am having issues with the Sammy SMT-H3272 dvr with Time Warner LA. The box will freeze up and when I reboot it, the time resets to 4AM. TV works, but the guide does not (guide unavailable). It takes many reboots to finally get it to sync with the proper local time. I have 80%+ used on the dvr and now it has started missing recordings. It will fully record (record light on the entire time program is being recorded), but when you try to playback it goes to zero and the delete screen. During the multiple reboots to get it in sync with the proper time, the box does the countdown from L13 down... but it tends to skip some numbers, when it skips L2, I know the time will be wrong and have to reboot again. STB is now working, but not playing back recent recorded material. TW will just want to exchange the STB, is their a possible workaround to replacing the box so I can view my recorded material? Have them exchange the cable card? I'd appreciate your insights.

I am having issues with the Sammy SMT-H3272 dvr with Time Warner LA. The box will freeze up and when I reboot it, the time resets to 4AM. TV works, but the guide does not (guide unavailable). I'd appreciate your insights.

Couple of thoughts...

These boxes don't seem to like high utilization..mine seems to get somewhat flakey when usage is greater than 75%. Might try watching (and then deleting) some of the recordings.

Failure to handshake properly with the head end (failure to set time properly, unable to properly finish the boot process, guide not available) can be caused by a bad cable, bad connector, bad splitter or other "stuff" in the signal path. My BrightHouse (TW's affiliate in Central Florida), tech has fixed a lot of problems in our neighborhood with wiring issues and in our house wiring (10+ years old). He said that bad wiring (and deteriorating wiring devices) causes more problems than almost any other cause.

The problem is that at least once a day the SMT-H3272 switches the audio codec from Dolby AC3 output to HDMI and so I lose my surround sound and end up back with just stereo audio. If I go back into the menu and re-select AC3 as the codec my surround sound returns. Bizarre as it's reverting to HDMI audio but my optical output still provides stereo data.

I have not discovered what triggers this problem yet (i.e. changing channel or power cycling) and am still trying to diagnose the problem. Brighthouse tech support were no help.

If anybody has any suggestions of where I could look I would greatly appreciate it.

Would enabling AC3 over HDMI possibly fix this ? I know I am not using HDMI for audio, but there's something screwy going on with the AC3 persist.

Can the Samsung HD DVR that I have with Time Warner cable in New York use the USB port to play media files from a thumb drive? I don't think it would. I read that it's for a mouse or a keyboard. No way to play media files from the USB port? Any idea? if it doesn't, that stupid.

Hello all,
I have been a long time lurker here on AVS. I am just posting to send a resounding and bountiful thank you to all who post their findings solutions and resolutions. With the wellspring of information found in these hallowed pages I was able solve my rather frustrating recent audio output issue without having to post a new possibly redundant request for help. Once again, thank you all very much.

5. After the drive is done formatting you will need to open (Unplug the DVR) the Samsung H-3270. You will need secure
torx bit (T-10H) which is like a normal torx bit with a hole in the center. You can get an awesome security bit set on
Amazon for 6 bucks, but I got mine at harbor freight when I had to change out the hard drive on my xbox. You will need a
phillips to get the smaller harddrive out.

6. After you have formated the drive and installed it power the box on and you will get an error HD Failure ignore this.

7. Enter diagnostics by holding [Vol+] and [INFO] simultaneously on the front panel for about 10 seconds, then release.
Go to extended diag. > diagnostics and now it ask you for a password mine was "time (8763)" as in time warner, enter this
with the numeric key pad. (YES IT WORKED). It has stayed as time.

8. Now Pick 01 Format Harddrive (yes you already formatted it but this also partitions it too.)

9. Now that this is done reboot the DVR box and wait! This part takes a awhile.

Dove - is your question, "How can I volume lock my Yamaha receiver?" If so, I would go online and pull up the manual for the RX-V373 and look it up. I don't own Yamaha products (I'm a Denon guy), but have got to think that Yamaha's also have volume lock. Also, the ability to use only one remove control is most often best solved with a good universal remote (We have two Harmony One's). I don't know if that's what you meant in your post, but it does read that way.